Hittin’ That Go-Go Swing

Scientists Use The Power Of DMV Music To Help Teach Youth

By Kia Lisby

Music is a universal language--despite the verbal language barriers many of us have. No matter the language, the rhythm and beats within music help us to overlook the words and focus more on how the music makes us feel.

Though music is enjoyable to listen to, it can also be a learning tool.

Neuroscientist, musician and writer, Dr. Jessica Phillips-Silver has gathered a team of local DC artists, to help her tell the brain science behind rhythm through a first-ever virtual children’s musical “Finding Rhythm: A Journey Through the Musical Brain” Dec 19.

The show was written by Phillips-Silver and is based on her 20 years of research in music neuroscience which focuses on how music shapes the brain from the time we are infants.

The story follows three main characters: mother dance, father rhythm and the scientist. They teach how rhythm grew in Africa, how it traveled through Latin America to D.C., before growing into Go-Go and how rhythm grows in the brain.

Realizing she needed more than herself to successfully produce the show, Phillips-Silver received a grant from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities to fund the show.

She also reached out to teacher and musician, Dante Pope to help collaborate and work as music director of the program.

Although neither Jessica nor Dante are from the DMV area, they still sought to honor Go-Go music and use it to help tell the story.

The show is not about Go-Go, but the genre of music is used as a demonstration while paying homage to its roots. The musical influences of classic Go-Go and Chuck Brown are used and can be heard throughout the original music.

As a result of the pandemic, the music of the show will be released on an EP with a full album to come in 2021.

The show is aimed at youth aged 5-12 with the hopes of all ages will engage in the music.

“I want families and children of all backgrounds to not only experience these rhythms but to develop of respect for them based on an understanding that these rhythms are good for brain development,” said Phillips-Silver.

In the future, there are plans for developing a curriculum and lesson plans based on rhythm and brain development that will be useful in classrooms inside and outside the DMV area.

With virtual learning as the new normal for now, this concept can still be useful. When explaining how rhythm and brain development can still be effective in online learning, Pope used the term: “arts integrative experience.”

“You really harp on the brain and the science behind it and use the music to show your points,” he says.

When able to safely get back into the theater, the show will be performed at Dance Place in NE, Washington D.C. The creators desire to tour at schools.